Given that “Smooth” was inescapable in everyday life and I remember”Maria, Maria” from Supernatural, and maybe other singles as well, while I had forgotten the name of the follow-up and don’t recall any of the singles, but I wasn’t watching MTV or listening to the radio then; Supernatural was conceived and marketed as a major comeback while Shaman followed an established formula, I wouldn’t say it bombed (with the new information) but it marked the end of his status as a major current force in popular music.

Also keep in mind those numbers are inflated because in the late ’90s/early 2000s most people bought music only on CD albums. Lots of albums from that period (hello, Creed and Limp Bizkit) are among the highest-selling records of all time when they wouldn’t necessarily have been ten years earlier or later.